The End of All Things

With Ann Coulter, the shrill right-wing pin-up pundit making the cover of Time magazine and receiving what can best be described as a wet, sloppy tongue bath in the form of a cover story by one John Cloud, it’s become quite clear to me that the world has indeed entered into The End of Days.

With Bush safely ensconced in the WH for another four years, the leaders of the Right-wing Machine that currently controls both the government and most major private institutions have begun to impose their full agenda on the Republic. From dismantling Social Security to eviscerating the judiciary to controlling all aspects of private behavior to wrecking international institutions, the right-wing is pursuing its agenda on many fronts.

Being that a well-informed, intelligent populace steeped in common sense would pose a serious challenge to the full implementation of the right-wing vision; the Machine’s masters have spent decades undermining the public’s primary tools for keeping this ever-present Machine in check – an independent press and a free and open discourse – with an endless barrage of defamation and sabotage. Liberal bias has long been the charge used to undermine the public’s confidence in its press. Recent barrages in this long siege, such as Memogate, Fox News and Jeff Gannon, only make a further mockery of public discourse, contributing to the further decline of that essential institution.

Now, here in the spring of 2005, we cross a new threshold of escalation in the War on Public Discourse. The attempt by Time Magazine (owned by Time Warner, one of the largest corporations on the planet) to “mainstream” a fringe character like Coulter signifies the final stage of this conflict. If successful, the acceptance of such a complete buffoon by the general public will signal to the right wing that absolutely nothing is off limits. No behavior by a public servant will seem too corrupt. No amount of presidential deception will be impeachable. No invasion of privacy will be deemed too unwarranted.

And the greatest joy to the right wing – the public will be completely unable to recognize what’s transpiring. The Daily Howler explains:

In just the past five years, the “press corps,” lacking all conviction, has made Gore seem crazy and Coulter seem sane. Their first performance put Bush in the White House; the latter act leads to a pitiless future. Quite plainly, Coulter’s the craziest one of them all—and your denatured “press corps” sends boys out to pimp her, boys who say they can’t find her mistakes! Don’t be fooled—Coulter is the stalking-horse, the test-case to see if there is anything so absurd, so insane, so bizarre, that your modern “press corps” won’t let it be peddled. This week, Time gave its answer: No. The mag said it couldn’t find Coulter’s mistakes—and that her comments are made in good fun.

Powdered, perfumed, disastrously overpaid, your celebrified press corps lacks all conviction. Our question: If your “press corps” won’t even object to this, is there anything they’ll ever confront or challenge? Is there any intellectual or moral tradition they’ll defend; is there any intellectual or moral tradition that will survive their abdication? Your “press corps” clowns at dinner parties, singing “happy birthday” to favorite pols and pretending that they don’t notice the Coulters. (Emphasis Added)

The only thing standing between freedom and a tyranny unlike anything the world has ever seen (thanks to technology) is a public (that is, a body of private citizens who actually believe in the principles of a free society) that is unwilling to accept the concentration of power in the hands of a small minority, and that overcomes even the most insidious attempts to hide or distort the truth. But if the public can believe that Coulter is actually normal or typical, then the war is already over.

And it is not enough for a handful of liberal or progressive intellectuals to point out the unacceptable abdication of responsibility demonstrated by Time and any other entity that bows to the right-wing power mongers. Those opposed to the right-wing machine, or at the least who care more about the principles of a free society, must do battle within their peer groups. Coulter is a lawyer, as are other right-wing radicals who are trying to dismantle the judiciary or bashing it in public (Texas Senator John Cornyn, Justice Scalia).

Where are the many other lawyers out there, especially the conservative ones who actually still believe in the rule of law, fighting back against this attack on their livelihood? How can they not disown a disgrace like Coulter, who hacked her way to prominence by plagiarizing, lying, and breaking every basic rule of editing known to man? Where’s the outrage when a lawyer like Cornyn says that judges bring the violence on themselves for following the rule of law? Where’s the condemnations when Supreme Court Justice Scalia further stains the profession by saying that judges “only have themselves to blame.”

The Daily Howler rightly calls out liberals who fail to publicize and criticize so-called liberals who attacked their own using bogus right-wing spin – he asks why they don’t name names.

Well, I think the same is true in other peer groups. The Bar should be all over hacks like Cornyn, Scalia and Coulter for their nonsense. Bill Frist should have his medical license revoked. But no, everyone’s too nice for that. Why is everyone so gosh darn nice? Well, as afar as it concerns the press, Slate’s Jack Shafer puts it this way:

SHAFER (4/8/05): I started writing press criticism at Washington City Paper back in 1986, because as editor I couldn't get anybody else to do it. Writers were frightened that if they penned something scathing about the Washington Post or the New York Times they'd screw themselves out of a future job.

The Good Ol’ Boy network! I have to be nice or I might not get that job that will allow be to buy that over-priced house or that gas guzzling super-SUV or that vacation at Martha’s Vineyard. Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours? So this is how it works? With the right-wing Machine, it’s more like: Scratch my back while I rob you blind and burn your house down.